Saddle up for an unforgettable ride along the rugged trails, rolling prairies and wide-open ranges of Cowboy Country. Along the way you'll meet legendary heroes, warriors and scoundrels... visit frontier towns, outposts and tribal villages... and relive the events that made the American West famous. Packed with vivid reenactments, colorful characters, historic photos and films, and fascinating facts, Cowboy Country is an entertaining journey through the real West of yesterday and today.
Rodeos and Roundups
Each year, more than 700 rodeos are held across the U.S. These competitions are deeply rooted in the workday reality of the cowboy—a reality that still exists on ranches throughout the American West today. We explore both worlds.
Dude Ranches
The American West is home to hundreds of places where city slickers can experience cowboy life, if only for a few days or so. Ranch living is a "hands-on" experience that draws hundreds of thousands of people of all ages every year, many of them from Europe and Asia. We'll visit them and see why this kind of vacation is so popular.
Modern-Day Cowboys
The cowboy ideal is a continuing presence in the American West. We showcase the people and the events that continue to nourish this ideal.
Hollywood Comes to Cowboy Country
Hollywood's portrayal of the American West may not always have been accurate, but it has certainly helped preserve interest in this colorful period of American history. Classic Western films are entwined with a time when bravery and purpose were the rule rather than the exception. We revisit some of the stars of this genre and the places where they made their celluloid magic, to examine why the Western movie has proved to be so enduring.
